Some rural and suburban areas utilize curbside mailboxes. Mailboxes generally have a large metal box mounted on a support designed primarily to receive quantities of incoming mail. Some rural curbside mailboxes may be grouped together at property boundaries or road/driveway intersections, depending upon conditions.
Mailboxes evolved to reduce the time required for a mail carrier to complete delivery when the front door of a residence is some distance from the street. Mail boxes are mounted curbside on suitable posts or other supports and may be fitted with a signal flag or semaphore arm—usually red or fluorescent orange that is raised by the resident of the property to notify the postman of outgoing mail and by the postman to inform the recipient that incoming mail had been delivered.
Mailboxes exist under harsh conditions and are subject to extreme stresses: people back into them and run them over; snow plows pack tons of ice and snow against them; the sun bakes them; storms pelt them and can rip them from the ground; lawn mowers and string trimmers attack their supporting posts; animals and insects like wasps live in them; and vandals blow them up, paint-ball them and attack them with bats; among other things. Mailboxes need to be replaced frequently.
Moreover, new home construction continues in rural and suburban areas and new mailboxes are in demand.